A special court on Friday sentenced former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin to life imprisonment after he was found guilty for the abduction and murder of two people in 2004.

File photo of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin who was found guilty for the abduction and murder of two people in 2004.(File Photo)

A special court on Friday sentenced former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin to life imprisonment after he was found guilty for the abduction and murder of two people in 2004.

Three of Shahabuddin’s associates — Rajkumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain, who were convicted along with the politician on Wednesday, have also been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Additional district judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava passed the order pronouncing the former politician guilty of the charges framed against him under sections 302 (murder), 364A (kidnapping for ransom, etc), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Shahabuddin, who has been lodged in the Siwan district jail for the past seven years in connection with several other cases as well, is likely to appeal his sentence, his lawyer Abhay Kumar Rajan said.

Rajan argued that Shahbuddin was in jail at the time of the murder and so his association with the crime may not be maintainable.

Hena Shahab, Shahabuddin’s wife went on to suggest a political vendetta against her husband.

Meanwhile, given his past crimes and the political clout that Shahabuddin wields, security has been stepped up in the city.